Person feared trapped in Dorset landslide
A major search is under way after reports a person is trapped following a landslip near a Dorset holiday park.
Police, the fire service, ambulance service and the coastguard were dealing with the incident on Tuesday near the Freshwater Beach Holiday Park at Burton Bradstock, near Bridport, Dorset.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said Portland Coastguard was told a person was trapped under the fallen rocks between Freshwater and Burton Bradstock in an emergency call received just before 12.30pm.
Witnesses later reported that there had been a fatality as a result of the incident, described by a worker at the local Hive Beach Cafe as “a significant rockfall”, but this has not been confirmed by the emergency services.
A spokesman for the South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said: “One person is reported as being trapped and the ambulance service is working in partnership with the other agencies on the scene to reach them as quickly as possible”
The incident comes two weeks after Somerset couple Rosemary Snell, 67, and Michael Rolfe, 72, were killed in a landslide at the Beaminster Tunnel just nine miles away.
In a joint statement Dorset Police and Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said: “At just after 12.30pm today Dorset Police were called to a report from the coastguard of a landslide by the Freshwater Beach Holiday Park.
“Officers, with assistance from the police helicopter, are currently working alongside Dorset Fire and Rescue Service and other agencies to search the area.
“The Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) from Devon and Somerset has also been deployed to this incident.”
(Cliffs in the Burston Bradstock area. Picture courtesy www.discoveringfossils.co.uk)
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said three Coastguard rescue teams and the Coastguard rescue helicopter based in Portland were at the scene in Lyme Bay.
Person trapped
A coastguard spokeswoman said: “Portland Coastguard received a report of a landslide between Freshwater and Burton Bradstock at just before 12.30pm.
“The landslide was reported to be 400 metres from Freshwater caravan park and the caller reported that a person was trapped under the fallen rocks.
“West Bay, Lyme and Wyke coastguard rescue teams and their managers are currently on scene with the coastguard rescue helicopter based in Portland.
“They are working with Dorset Police, Dorset Fire and Rescue Service, South Western Ambulance Service and the lifeboat from Lyme Regis to search for those who may be trapped and to keep the public away from the area surrounding the landslide.”
A spokesman for the South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said: “We dispatched a number of vehicles to the Burton Bradstock area following a number of calls made to the service just after 12.30pm, including the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and the service’s Hazardous Area Response Team, who are trained to deal with a whole manner of challenging scenes.”
Heavy rains
Last week Dorset Council issued a warning to visitors of the risk of landslides following heavy rains. The western end of the Esplanade at West Bay, near Burton Bradstock was closed at the weekend “due to concerns about continuing land stability in the area following the exceptional wet weather”.
Those same rains left much of the local community underwater in severe flooding. Residents fled their homes as the water rose to one metre deep and scattered vehicles through the village.
Rich source of fossils
Although not quite as well known as the neigbouring coastline near Lyme Regis and Charmouth, the Burton Bradstock area is popular with fossil hunters. Roy Shepherd of discoveringfossils.co.uk, told Channel 4 News that landslips often provide rich hunting grounds for new fossils, but that as this area is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, fossil hunters would only be able to collect from loose material.